Salish weaving facts for kids
The Salish are amazing weavers and knitters from the Pacific Northwest. They are especially famous for their beautiful blankets made using a special weaving style called twill. Many of these blankets are very old! Today, we can learn a lot about Salish weaving because they used many different fabrics, colors, and weaving methods over time.
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A Look Back: History of Salish Blankets
Salish stories say that blankets have been used for important ceremonies since ancient times. These blankets showed that the person wearing them was a leader in their community or religion. Important people would wear blankets to show their special status. They might also sit or stand on their blankets to show their honored place.
Blankets also showed how wealthy a person was. Often, people would give blankets away to others in their village or even to people in other villages to show how rich they were. Because blankets were so valuable, they were also used like money. People could buy or trade for other goods using blankets.
Women were in charge of making these blankets. Young girls started learning from their grandmothers as early as ten years old. They would get more serious training when they became teenagers. Weaving blankets took a lot of hard work and could take a very long time to finish. Sometimes, making blankets was also connected to spiritual tasks or special traditions.
Where the Salish Lived
The name "Salish" refers to groups of native peoples in the Pacific Northwest. Their languages and cultures are similar enough to suggest they are related from a long time ago. It's like how "Indo-Europeans" or "Polynesians" refer to groups of people with shared backgrounds.
The Salish people lived in an area stretching from the north of the Fraser Canyon to Vancouver Island, and down to Aberdeen in Washington. The Nuxálk region, which is farther north, also speaks a Salish language. Even though Salish groups had different social levels and leaders, each village was unique. The Salish region was not one big unified group, and the people living there didn't see themselves as one single Salish nation.
Special Traditions and Ceremonies
During a special ceremony called a potlatch, blankets would be given out to guests. This was a way for the host to show off their wealth. When guests received blankets, the person giving them gained respect and improved their social standing. Sometimes, to make sure more people got a gift, blankets were cut into pieces. These pieces were often later sewn into bigger blankets.
In the winter, people often held "spirit dances." During these dances, a group of men would perform. If the song changed, they might seem to be "possessed" and would dance in a unique way. People watching would often give blankets as gifts to these new dancers to honor them.
How Salish Blankets Were Woven
The Salish people used many different weaving methods. These included wrapped, diagonal openwork, vertical and slanting openwork, overlay, simple twining, three-strand twining, plain openwork, and double twining. The most common methods were plain, twill, and twine techniques.
Plain Weave Design
This design is also called checkerboard or diagonal weave. It's a simple way of weaving where one thread (the weft) goes over one thread (the warp) and under the next. Sometimes, when making baskets, the weft might go over two and under two, or over one and under two. This weave was mostly used for making mats from cedar bark and rushes, and other rough materials.
Twill Weave
This type of weave, called SWOH-kwah-'tl, was used for making the largest blankets. The warp and weft threads were usually made of the same material. The weft thread would cross the warp threads by going over two and under two, or over two and under one. At the edge of the blanket, the weft thread was turned back and woven in the opposite direction. The way the weft crossed the warp changed with each line woven. It would shift over one warp thread, but the pattern of over two, under one continued throughout the weaving.
Twine Weave
Twining is a type of weave, and its variations, like double twined and two- and three-strand twining, were used in many of the finest Salish woven items. The pattern created looks similar on both sides of the fabric. The warp threads are completely covered and can be made of a different material.
Materials Used for Weaving
The Salish people chose weaving materials that grew in large amounts around them. Digs by archaeologists in the area have found many old baskets and fibers. This shows us what materials were used long ago.
Mountain Goat's Wool
Mountain goat wool, or SAH-ay, was the main fiber used by the Salish for weaving. Blankets made from goat hair were the most valuable. Originally, the Salish found wool high in the mountains where mountain goats spent their summers and shed their old wool. Wool might get caught in low bushes. During this season, they also saved wool from goats hunted for food. They would roll up the goat skin with the flesh sides together. After a few days, the wool would come off naturally. Then it was pulled off to be made into yarn. Before the raw fiber was spun into threads, it was mixed with a white, chalk-like clay. This clay absorbed the grease and helped the wool fibers stick together. Today, wool from domestic sheep has completely replaced mountain goat wool, which is now hard to find.
Dog's Hair
Besides collecting mountain goat wool, the Salish also kept woolly dogs (mostly white) to use their fur for weaving. In 1792, Captain George Vancouver wrote that the dogs "were numerous, and resembled those [from] Pomerania, though in general somewhat larger. They were all shorn as close to the skin as sheep are in England; and so compact were their fleeces, that large portions could be lifted up by a corner without causing any separation."
The Sto:lo people had dogs similar to coyotes, with a thick, woolly undercoat covered by coarser, long hair. The dogs were plucked for their wool, not sheared. Often, the Salish would add soft down from waterfowl or milkweed plants into the fiber as it was being spun into yarn.
Cedar Bark
The Salish had a lot of cedar bark, or SLAH, and used it for many things, including clothing. The softer inner bark was used for weaving. It was made softer and more flexible by boiling it for up to two days. Then, they would work the strips by bending, twisting, and rubbing them between their hands, which were covered with protective buckskin gloves. Once prepared, strips were taken off to use for plaiting or open-work basket weaving. When used for clothing, the bark was first pounded into shreds, then combed into small separate fibers. Then it was spun into a fine twine or cord as needed.
Other Materials
Other materials used for weaving included Indian hemp, nettle fiber, milkweed fiber, rushes and reeds, willow bark, and more recently, wool from domesticated sheep.
Indian Hemp
Indian hemp (Apocynum cannabinum) grew in many areas. It was gathered and dried before it fully matured. The plant was boiled to make it soft and flexible. Whenever it was used for weaving, the fibers were kept moist. Indian hemp was used by Salish-speaking people near Spuzzum on the Fraser River as a base material for the warp. Soft dog's hair or mountain goat wool was then woven onto this grass warp to make blankets.
Nettle Fiber
Twine made from the bark of nettle stems was used a lot for items that needed to be strong, like a firm, sturdy warp thread. Dried nettles were dampened to make the bark flexible enough, while the inside of the stem stayed dry and brittle. By splitting the stem and rubbing it over a blunt edge, the bark would separate from the pith. This bark was then beaten and combed into a soft material that could be spun using a spindle, similar to spinning wool. Twine made from nettle fiber was very strong and used for making nets and fishing lines, as well as for the warp in weaving.
Milkweed Fiber
Twine was also made from the bark of the milkweed plant, which grew in the Thompson River area. The finest twine could be made from its bark, and a soft down was obtained from its seeds. When combined with goat's wool and dog hair, it made the finest fiber for weaving a blanket.
Rushes and Reeds
There were two types of rushes used: flat and round-stemmed. They were gathered in late summer, cut at or below water level, then laid out on racks to dry. They were woven to make mats or bags, or stripped to be used as twine, cord, string, and bags.
Willow Bark
The inner bark of willow trees was woven into many shapes that held their form and were very strong and durable. Boiling it made it soft and flexible so it could be shaped.
Domesticated Sheep Wool
Sheep's wool, or mah-too-EHL-kel, is the most common material used for modern Salish weaving. Some knitters still buy shorn fleeces and do most of the traditional preparation. However, most now buy washed and carded wool directly from a company that prepares it. The fleece is gently washed in warm water and then hung outside to dry. It is then pulled apart with fingers to remove any tangled areas and loose dirt. The wool is then carded, which leaves the wool in soft layers where the fibers lie lengthwise. Taken to the spinning machine, the wool is skillfully fed by hand into the axle of the spindle. This separates parts of the wool layer and allows the right amount of spinning to happen before the tension is loosened to wind the wool onto the spindle. When the spindle is full, the wool is unwound and stored in balls or skeins.
Adding Color: Dyeing Process
All the dyes available to the Salish came from natural plants and minerals. For example, they got red colors from red alder trees or western red cedar.
The modern way of dyeing by hand is described here, and it might be similar to how it was done long ago. All these methods require the yarn to be soaked in a pot containing the color source and water that have already been boiled together. Next, the yarn would be put into a special bath called a mordant bath and left to simmer for over an hour. An aluminum mordant makes yellow, copper sulfate mordant makes green, while iron mordant creates a grayish look. Other mordants are chrome and tin. The final step combined the dye with the yarn and simmered for over an hour. After this, the dyed yarn was removed, rinsed, and left to dry.
Some red pieces found in old blankets might be from wool fabric. Salish weavers used these in the late 1800s. Strips were torn from blankets or other materials that had been brought in from other places and used in weaving. It's likely that these new materials were added because of their color. Brightly colored fabric strips are common in later plain or solid-style Salish blankets. Also, bright commercial yarns are found in many decorative blankets. In most cases, these added fabric strips and yarns had colors that couldn't be made from native plant or mineral dyes.
The Spinning Process
Preparing the fiber was a long process. It involved cleaning and untangling the fiber, spinning the yarn, twisting it together (plying), dyeing the colored yarns, and finally weaving. Creating the yarn was done with a spindle, which is usually 2–3 feet long and holds a stone or, even better, a whalebone whorl (a weight). The spindle is spun by hitting the bottom of the whorl with the right hand. The top of the spindle is held between the thumb and forefinger of the other hand, and the bottom rests on the ground. Using the spindle, two strands of yarn are twisted around each other to make a single thread. Goat hair was always spun "s" meaning the whorl would be turned counterclockwise. Since goat hair was always made into two-ply yarn, the doubled yarn would have been made by attaching two lengths of single "s" spun yarn and then turning the whorl clockwise in a "z" twist.
The goal of weaving a blanket was not just to make something useful, but also something meaningful and symbolic. For example, the zigzag design found in many Salish blankets is more than just pretty. It could represent things like a trail, lightning, or a snake.
Tools for Weaving
Salish Weaving Tools
The Salish loom is made with two upright posts that hold two horizontal bars, about 6 feet long. Blankets are woven on these horizontal bars, and the bars can be moved up or down on the vertical posts to change the size of the blanket. The warp threads are wrapped around the horizontal bar and held tight during the weaving process.
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A wooden baton used during weaving.
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A carved bone shuttle used during weaving.
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A bone spindle whorl used during spinning.
A Lasting Legacy
Salish blanket weaving became less common in the early 1900s. In 1884, a law was passed that banned the religious practices of First Nations people. This was part of an effort by colonizers to "civilize" the native population. This law stayed in place until the 1920s. The important potlatch ceremony was included in this ban.
Besides these laws, colonizers also brought their own wool blankets. The most famous were the off-white Hudson's Bay Company blankets with red, yellow, and green stripes. Because these HBC blankets could be made quickly, they were up to twenty times cheaper than traditional Salish blankets. However, traditional goat-hair blankets were valued at twenty times more than the Hudson Bay blankets because of their better materials and the much harder work it took to make them.
As blanket weaving decreased, Salish women started knitting sweaters and other clothes. These sweaters, known as "Cowichan" after a Salish community on Vancouver Island, were made with sheep's wool from the settlers. The style was the traditional European cardigan sweater, but the designs knitted into the clothes were Salish patterns like eagles and whales. While these knitted items didn't have the same special ceremonial meaning as the woven blankets, they were still worn during important community and religious events.
